


Video Games

by delcatty



Category: Pocket Monsters: Red & Green & Blue & Yellow | Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Versions
Genre: Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Introspection, M/M, Mutism, Non-Linear Narrative, Prompt Fic, Thirty Day Challenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2017-11-20 06:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 10,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/582175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delcatty/pseuds/delcatty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vague prompts relating to Red — character development, introspection, and world building.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You are the bread and the knife,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning.

Red was a particular person. He was quiet and aloof. He didn’t socialise much and he exuded an air of near absolute apathy. Most of the kids at school teased him about his laziness, but they couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Red wasn’t lazy or emotionless or indifferent. He just didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve like most people. But while he wasn’t a constant emotional wreck, he _did_ still have emotions and feelings. Like right now, for instance.

He supposed he could actually officially be called a nervous wreck. His hands were shaking, his temple was beaded with sweat, and he just couldn’t seem to swallow away the lump in his parched throat. He gripped the hem of his red shirt as he stared down at the three round white and red balls in front of him.

This was undoubtedly the most important decision Red would ever make. His entire life would be moulded around the choice he would make today. His future as a pokémon trainer came down to this _one_ crucial selection. He took a deep breath in and began to reach for a pokéball.

“Come on, Red! Hurry it up – _some_ people have a League to beat here!”

Red looked over to see Green smirking and behind him was a sheepish Professor Oak. Red turned back to the three pokéballs wordlessly.

(After all, Green had been acting the same way ever since he was eight and officially declared that they were ‘no longer friends, but the bitterest of rivals’. Red suspected that he’d been mildly addicted to his sister Daisy’s soap operas as a kid, and thought it would be an interesting twist to their friendship saga. Regardless, the two boys hadn’t been true friends in a long time.)

On the table were three pokéballs. One contained a bulbasaur, one a charmander, and in the third a squirtle.

He was supposed to pick one, to share his life with one, to train and care and love one. But none of them felt right. None of them _were_ ‘the one’.

(And okay, so maybe while Green was watching ‘ _Regions of our Love_ ’, Red was watching ‘ _The Elite Bachelorette_ ’ with his mother. He didn’t quite take away the right message the show was trying to convey, but he found it quite applicable in this situation. And he was glad Lorelei got a good man in the end, too.)

But he wasn’t meant to have a bulbasaur or a squirtle or a charmander. He was meant to have _something else_.

He shot an almost panicked look towards Professor Oak. The man raised an eyebrow and Green scoffed, predicting his rival’s thoughts without the use of words.

“He’s too good for these ones, Gramps. Just give him that special one you’re always complaining about.”

Green didn’t understand. Whatever pokémon Green chose today would be his official starter, but it wouldn’t be his first pokémon. At that, Eevee zigzagged through Green’s legs long enough for the boy to bend down a pick her up. Green already had his _one_.

Red’s eyebrow raised just as Professor Oak’s brow furrowed. “I’m not sure about that, Green. That pokémon is very dangerous...”

Green groaned. “Just do it! He obviously doesn’t want any of these ones. He’s weird, Gramps. He’s difficult,” he snarked and shot a sideways look at Red. “Plus, I wanna get first pick. Those other two trainers can choose between the last two later.”

Professor Oak sighed and nodded, “Very well. I was actually considering giving this one to you in the first place, Red, but decided that you should at least have a choice. But if you’d rather have a different one...”

Red nodded solemnly in response as the professor opened up a drawer in his desk. He pulled out another pokéball much like the other three. There was nothing particularly special about this one. No extra markings or different colours – it was just a plain, old pokéball.

Professor Oak handed the object over to Red with a hesitant smile. “This is a pikachu, Red. It’s an electric type. However, it’s quite hostile and it needs a special trainer to own it,” he smiled, and shot a look at Green who was fussing over which starter he wanted. “But I’m sure you’re patient enough. You _have_ put up with my grandson for over ten years. You’ll be fine.”

Red looked down at the pokéball with carefully concealed interest. He knew he was only imagining it, but he could almost feel the difference. Like there was a current of power running from his hand to the pokémon and back again. This was no regular bulbasaur. This was something special.

He looked up at Professor Oak who was smiling. Red nodded once and smiled back. This was a new beginning for him. He was going to be on his own with a pikachu at his side.

He was ready.


	2. the crystal goblet and the wine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Accusation.

It was four years after Red became champion of the Kanto League and two years after Green became the leader of the Viridian City gym when Green put his foot down. It had been four years since they had spent the day together, just the two of them, and Green – and to an extent, Red – had had enough. They wanted no trainers to battle, no mountains to freeze on – just one simple day together, a brief vacation, in Celadon City: a place far enough away from all of their duties. It didn’t help that they were also hiding from Green’s trainers, and were dodging Lance’s calls – their vacation was a decidedly unplanned one.

That didn’t stop them from enjoying themselves, though. They got tea and breakfast at a little shop run by an old woman. She revealed to them that she opened up after being bullied by a brunette coordinator from Pallet Town with the cruellest green eyes. Red figured that pushiness was an Oak family trait.

They spent an hour going through the new merchandise on sale at the Celadon Department Store. Red brought Green a pokédoll. Green was not impressed, but carried it round with him for half the way until he palmed it off on a little girl who repeated everything they said.

They wasted any money they didn’t spend at the department store on the slot machines in the Game Corner. They briefly considered going down into the old Rocket base to explore. It was more Green’s suggestion, having never been down there. However, after seeing Red’s hesitation, he quickly ushered them into the shop next door to waste away their hard earned tokens. Green brought a new silk scarf for his Eevee and proceeded to spend half an hour trying to get it on before she ripped it to shreds. Red laughed, and Pikachu shocked him.

They spent most of the afternoon attempting to get into Erika’s gym under the guise that they wanted to catch up with the leader, when in reality they wanted to bask in the company that was an entire gym filled with girls. Erika came out after two hours of pestering to shoo them off, all the while politely accusing them of being ‘lecherous adolescents’.

They had lunch at a restaurant where Green proceeded to participate in the daily eat-a-thon. He ended up throwing up into the nearby bushes and had Red carry him back to their hotel.

They spent the rest of the day holed up in their room, ordering room service, yelling at the live match on the tv, and reminiscing about their childhoods. The years when they were travelling trainers, battling gyms, and foiling bad guys. At Red’s deadpan stare, Green laughed and waved his hands consolingly. “Okay, okay. So maybe _you_ defeated Team Rocket.”

They sat on their hotel balcony and reclined on lounge chairs as the sun set. They each had something cheap, fruity, and alcoholic in their hands, and were pleasantly buzzed. Pikachu cooed softly from Red’s shoulder as Eevee purred in Green’s lap.

They stared up at the sky of Celadon in perfect peace. They reflected back on their day and wondered why they didn’t do it sooner. They sit there in silence, enjoying each other’s company – until Green chuckled.

“Team Rocket or not, I was _still_ the champion before you.”


	3. You are the dew on the morning grass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Restless.

Red liked to spend boring days pondering the facts of life.

He was a thinker by circumstance, a mute by nature, and a philosopher because there was little else to do on top of a barren mountain that got more snow than anywhere else in Kanto and Johto combined. When he wasn’t training, or thinking about training, or about to train – or occasionally sleeping – he was thinking.

Mostly about himself, but he never said he wasn’t self-centred. Although he really didn’t say anything at all, so informing people about being self-centred was hardly high on his list of priorities – not like surviving, or winning. But while he mostly thought about himself and his journey to the top of Mt. Silver – both the literal and metaphorical journey – he would also occasionally spare a thought towards his friends. Not that he had all that many.

But since he spent much of his time thinking, he thought about what brought them all together. They were all from Pallet Town, they all started their journeys at the same time and they were all around the same age. But there was more to friendship than that, and after months on top of that mountain with only the occasional care package actually making its way to him, he figured it out.

All of them were restless.

Green Oak – rival, friend, comrade, prissy Champion for a day. He was, and still is, a cocky brat but decidedly less of one than when he was ten and bragging about his prized charmander defeating every bug catcher in Viridian Forest – like it was a challenge. If Red was honest with himself, he took the most pleasure in defeating Green in pokémon battles. They were rivals, after all.

But despite Green finally settling down and becoming a gym leader, he was still the same person he was as a child. He was restless, like Red – literally and figuratively. He gained no pleasure in sitting still, or staying in one place. It was why he left his gym unattended so often. It was why he felt the need to go as far as the world would let him. But Green was more literally restless than figuratively restless. He didn’t like the feeling of physically being locked up somewhere like his gym or Pallet.

Red, on the other hand, leant more towards the figuratively restless than literally. But he could identify with Green. They had travelled alongside each other (despite the fact that Green was always one step ahead of him) and had picked up and almost adopted traits from each other, usually the most undesirable ones.

Like Green, Red was not – and still isn’t – a very friendly guy. It wasn’t that he went out of his way not to make friends but he didn’t really try to either. Any friends he did have were by pure circumstance. Or by reckless force which always makes him to think about the twins.

Fire and Leaf, while notoriously known in Pallet as ‘the twins’, were a brother and sister duo who were year younger than the Red and Green at ten years old but still managed to convince their parents to let them leave a year early anyway. They were hot-tempered, quick and witty, smart, and ridiculously dangerous.

The day after Red received a pikachu as a starter, they nearly caused Professor Oak to have a heart attack as they fought over who would choose which starter first. Leaf ended up punching Fire in the stomach and snatching the squirtle before her brother even got his breath back.

They quickly caught up to Red and Green in Pewter City and immediately challenged the two boys to a battle. To this day Red still has no clue how he and Green lost to them. Green still accuses them of being ‘dirty cheaters, using their freaky twin powers to win’. Red silently agreed.

But Fire and Leaf were probably even more restless than Red and Green. Even now, when the two champions had nearly settled down into their new roles of gym leader and mountain hermit, the twins were still travelling. Last he heard, Leaf was conquering all of the contests in Hoenn while Fire was challenging all of the gyms. Leaf’s last letter mentioned something about an eighty day pact, an idea they got off a Rudy and Sophie, or a Randy and Sally. Or something like that.

(Leaf’s writing was more or less chicken scratch, and Red didn’t care enough to find out.)

Red knows that most people just chalk their weird restlessness up to age, but it was more than that. It had little to do with the fact that they were impressively – almost dangerously – young when they hit their metaphorical trainer plateau. It had even less to do with the fact that they were barely eleven when they defeated an entire criminal organisation.

After all, Lance was considered a prodigy when he defeated the Indigo League at age twelve and he was perfectly happy sitting in his throne room all day, reflecting the mysteries of the universe with his brain dead dragonite.

But thinking back, as he did so well and so frequently, Red honestly didn’t quite know why they were drawn together by their restlessness, or why they were restless in the first place. In hindsight, maybe it was more of a Palle thing. He’s been hearing good things about an Ash lately. Maybe he’ll check him out.

He was feeling restless, after all.


	4. and the burning wheel of the sun.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snowflake.

“I don’t know how you survive up here,” Green whined as he wrapped his scarf tighter around himself and pulled Eevee closer. “My balls are freezing here, man.”

Directly across from Green sat Red, who shot a pointed look at his best friend and rolled his eyes before pulling his cap down to cover his eyes.

On either side of Red and Green sat Fire and Leaf, who were only slightly warmer than Green. At Green’s complaint Leaf threw a premade snowball his way, laughing as the boy sputtered out insults. Her brother snickered as he pulled a marshmallow on a stick out of the fire.

They all sat around the dismal fire shivering. That is, everyone _except_ Red who had creepily become accustomed to the cold weather. None of them particularly enjoyed climbing to the top of Mt. Silver. It was truly difficult, and all three of them were used to battling through some of the worst weather conditions with little more than a hat and some pants – and a very short skirt in Leaf’s case. It took all day, it was guaranteed cold every single day of the year, snow ended up getting _everywhere_ and Green spent the entire trip complaining.

So they only did it once a month, if that. In Green’s opinion, Red should be glad they even visited him at all.

They were also usually a bit more careful than this. They waited until the ever present snow storm was a little less vicious than usual before climbing their way to the peak. They monitored the weather reports until the perfect moment struck. It wouldn’t do to go up Mt. Silver and then get stuck there.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what they did. A massive snowstorm raged outside Red’s not-so-cosy cave, absolutely forbidding exit down the mountain. Which then lead them to their current predicament – they were four people and two pokémon, one measly fire attempting to keep four bodies warm as they waited out the storm with thinly veiled irritation, and one jumbo packet of marshmallows to keep them occupied.

“But seriously, how do you survive? It’s like minus a billion degrees in the middle of a raging snowstorm and you’re sitting there in a fucking vest!” Green exclaimed, staring at Red as though he was possessed. He would have probably accused the boy of secretly being a froslass if they could even be found on Mt. Silver.

Leaf scoffed and bent down to pick up another deadly snowball in her mitten covered hand before a sharp look from Fire made her stop. She gratefully accepted a warm toasted marshmallow instead and began picking off the charred bits.

“Don’t be such a baby. It’s not that cold!” she said to Green with a mouthful of marshmallow muffling her words. “You come up here more often than us anyway.”

Green sneered, “Yeah, but you and Fire are just freaks who don’t seem to feel the cold!”

“Uh, excuse you.” Fire muttered. “We’ve been travelling through Hoenn, and that place literally does not even get a winter and we’re still more tolerant to snow than you are.”

Leaf poked her tongue out at Green as she and Fire hi-fived.

Green threw an exasperated look towards Red. “Why aren’t you the one punishing the kids, Mom? I always feel like the bad guy here!”

Red sent a look Green’s way but otherwise ignored him in favour of cuddling Pikachu closer to himself.

In the background, Leaf and Fire laughed. “Red’s Dad. You’re the one who’s got girly hips, Green,” Leaf snarked.

The two didn’t even notice when Green flipped his middle finger at them before going back to pouting. The other three pointedly ignored him in favour of more productive activities.

Like more marshmallows.

“Why are you the one with control over the marshmallows anyway, Fire?” Leaf remarked and lunged for the packet. Her brother grinned and lifted them out of the way as she fell onto his lap. Fire laughed and leant down, using her back as an elbow rest. Leaf retorted by screeching and wiggling around, trying to get away.

Green sneered at the twins. “You keep that up and there’s gonna be rumours, Fire. That champion in Unova gets shit about _his_ twin sister no matter where he goes.”

Fire audibly growled from the left of him and threw Leaf to the ground. His sister huffed before climbing back to her spot, the packet of marshmallows tucked safety under her arm.

She poked her tongue out at Fire as he glared at her from across the fire, but made no move to get up and retrieve his food. Silently, Red grabbed a chocolate bar from his backpack and threw it towards the younger boy. Fire grinned gratefully and ripped it open with his teeth.

Opposite to the two boys, Green nudged Leaf with his foot and gestured towards the packet, “Gimme some.”

Leaf raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “No way – these are my loot from a fearsome battle with the evil overlord of fire. I’m not giving up my sweet booty,” she snarked and popped a marshmallow into her mouth.

Green growled shared a poignant look with Fire before they simultaneously threw themselves in her direction, attempting a coup d’état towards the only girl of their group. Leaf shrieked and stuffed the packet down her top before either of them could get to her.

The two boys stopped and stared at her for a few seconds before Green recoiled and gestured towards the girl, “You go get them, Fire. You’re her brother. She can’t complain about you going down her top.”

Fire looked at Green with a deadpan expression. “Uh, yeah she can, dumbass.”

“Don’t you call me a dumbass, asshole.”

“Ooh, real mature. Get that one from that Joey kid?”

“No, I got it from your _Mom_.”

“ _What_ did you say about my Mom?!”

“Yeah! What did you say about our mother, you little bitch?”

“I think _you’re_ the bitch here, Leaf, obvi— _OW_! That hurt! No more snowballs to the face, okay?!”

“I’ll stop throwing snowballs at your precious little face when you stop insulting my mother!”

“And I’ll stop insulting your mother when—,”

The threesome stopped bickering the second Red held up his hand.

They waited impatiently as the silent trainer simply pointed towards the exit of the cave. Outside, the storm had finally stopped and tiny, beautiful snowflakes were falling gently from the sky.

“Whoa,” Fire murmured as he let go of Green’s collar and made his way out of the cave. Leaf let go of Green’s leg and stood up, shaking the snow from her jacket before following Fire.

In the cave, Red shot a deadpan look towards Green, who scoffed in return and shook the snow from his hair. “Yeah, I know I’m lucky. Now c’mon, this is the perfect time to get back at Leaf for all those snowballs she threw at me!” He said and grasped Red’s arm, pulling him out of the cave. Pikachu and Eevee followed them out excitedly before diving into the snow.

Once outside, the two trainers threw their arms up to shield their eyes from the bright sunlight. The sound of a snowball fight reached their ears when Leaf shrieked and Fire laughed.

Green chuckled and bent down, scooping up some fresh snow before stalking towards the twins with an excited Eevee bounding along with him. “Oh, Leaf,” he sung.

Red smiled softly and bent down to pick his perky eyed pikachu off the ground. The mouse pokémon scrambled its way up to Red’s shoulder to perch himself there. The trainer watched his friends engage in a particularly violent snowball fight, all previous frustrations forgotten.

It was true. His friends were rarely able to visit him on the mountain he’s marooned himself on, but when they did, he really, truly appreciated it.

Red smirked and bent down to pick his own snowball up. It was the rare visits he had with his friends that made his life worthwhile, and he was going to enjoy every second.


	5. You are the white apron of the baker,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haze.

Pikachu cooed and squeaked, watching as the mist rolled around the town lazily.

It was early in the morning – only an hour after sunrise and the thick haze that surrounded Celestic Town had made seeing hard and breathing harder.

Thankfully, Red was pretty much acclimatised to extreme conditions; after spending over a year on Mt. Silver he was more or less used to the elements.

The thick fog was a different experience, though. Not like the ever falling snow on at Silver’s peak. At the very least, Pikachu seemed to enjoy it.

Red didn’t find the elements in Celestic horrible by any means, but it wasn’t somewhere he’d choose to be either. He enjoyed the temperate weather of Kanto over the near constant chill of Sinnoh.

He did acknowledge that he was being hypocritical – that he was a person who’d spent the better part of a year isolated on the top of a snowing mountain – who was _he_ to complain about Sinnoh’s climate?

But Kanto was Kanto. Kanto was his home, the place where his friends and family lived, and where he’d forged some of his strongest characteristics that he wasn’t about to so easily change.

He liked being able to go from the freezing snow of Mt. Silver to the warm summer days of Viridian in an afternoon.

If one wanted to get any sort of sun in Sinnoh, they’d have to travel towards the north-east of the region, towards Sunyshore and the Pokémon League HQ and endure at least three days worth of travel.

Which he wouldn’t have complained about regardless, as the whole reason behind his trip was to visit Cynthia per her request. In invitation in the form of a quick text had been sent to him a week prior requesting his presence in Sinnoh.

A brusque message, stating only: ‘ _the champ wants to meet you, kid. get over here asap_.’

Which he thought was uncharacteristically vague for Cynthia – normally a very succinct and to the point woman – and extremely strange, since she _was_ in fact the champion of Sinnoh’s league. 

Red and Cynthia had become acquainted seven years beforehand when he became the champion of Kanto after defeating Green – the champions of all the regions got together and had tea as a welcoming.

It would have been pleasant if they hadn’t insisted on asking him questions the entire time.

Alder got excessively drunk, Steven started taking out his rocks to show everyone, and Lance started complaining about Clair. Overall, Cynthia ended up being the only sober one.

In hindsight, the ominous text message should have made him wary, but he had ulterior motives for travelling to Sinnoh. Despite what people thought about him, he didn’t actually enjoy spending all his time as a hermit.

Even the most antisocial of people needed to get out once and awhile. Red was no different. When Cynthia had sent him the odd text, he had jumped at the idea – a surprised to not only Green, but to himself as well.

The initial trip to Sinnoh had been pleasant. The ship was big and luxurious, with his own room thanks to his sufficient champion savings.

At the bow of the boat he’d met a chatty girl who wouldn’t shut up, but was more than happy to just let Red sit there and listen.

He learnt that she was fourteen, her favourite colour was red – she giggled when she found out his name and pointed out his namesake eyes as though he’d never looked in a mirror before – and that she was currently returning to her home region after a brief and disastrous stint in Orre.

She spent the entire time complaining either about how the boat made her seasick or how all she wanted to do was let out her empoleon and surf the entire way home.

Red was almost ready to release his lapras and race her when they both received a stern look from a sailor on board.

After a strict telling off, she released her pachirisu to play with Pikachu and they occupied their time by mock battling each other.

Once they had arrived on dry land he suspected that the girl was only a few moments away from throwing herself on the ground and kissing it.

More disapproving looks from complete strangers had her pouting and refraining from showing obscene affection for the concrete.

He’d bid her goodbye at the port of Canalave as they went their separate ways – the girl catching another boat to somewhere called Iron Island and Red making the long journey towards Sunyshore.

Days later he was barely at Veilstone City when he received a text from Cynthia requesting he make his way backwards to Celestic Town.

There was nothing else in the message – no explanation or reason.

Red had sighed to himself heavily before turning around. It would do him some good to stretch his legs again.

He had missed the act of walking with purpose – with the goal in mind to get to the next town, to the next gym, the next challenge. It violated him in a way that he’d forgotten about during his extremely early, ill fated retirement.

If anything, his only complaint was the doubling back. No point in seeing an area twice, after all.

But what Cynthia wants, Cynthia gets: it was a well known rule. Other champs, her elites, Sinnoh’s gym leaders, and anyone who had known her for even the slightest amount of time knew that.

So Red wasn’t inclined to be disobeying her any time soon. That then led him to his current predicament.

He was sitting in front of the large Celestic Ruins, waiting for the blonde champion to show up and make herself known. It just figured that she would be late to her own meeting.

Red sighed and lowered himself down to lie on the grass.

The wavering Celestic haze was floating around him gently. Not quite thick enough to block the sun, but bad enough to make him wish he was back in Viridian City – or Sunyshore. In this moment he could hardly be a chooser.

Which was why he squinted, confused, when the dismal sunlight was blocked out by a person standing over him.

“You’re gonna get a sunburn if you just sit out here like this! People think you can’t get burnt when it’s cold, or when the fog is out, or even in the winter! But it’s not true. You should wear a thicker coat, too... oh! I know the best place in Hearthome that sells the cutest red cardigans, they’ll match your eyes perfectly – I can take you there later!”

He sat up quietly and placed a hand over his eyes to look up at the figure, raising an eyebrow as the figure of the chatty girl from the boat standing over him.

The girl simply grinned and plonked herself down next to him, shoving a hand towards him. “Sorry I didn’t get to introduce myself earlier! The name is Dawn, the champion of the Sinnoh region! Pleased to meet you, Red!”


	6. and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flame.

In the wake of the Cinnabar Island eruption, Red couldn’t help but visit the destroyed city. The small island held crucial memories of his – simple memories of his journey and of his growth as a trainer and a person. But benign memories of happiness don’t stay so benevolent. Standing on the jagged rocks that used to be the research facility, thinking of simpler days can easily make him remember why he is where he is now.

He is no longer a travelling trainer, but the champion of the Indigo Plateau.

He is not accomplishing given and self appointed goals, but spending day after day atop Mt. Silver contemplating his monotonous existence.

The realisation made him shiver more than the snow ever did.

Cinnabar was the last place Red considered himself a regular trainer – a normal boy travelling around Kanto trying to gain all the badges. After he defeated Blaine and received the volcano badge he moved onto Viridian City – the place where he stopped Giovanni and became not only a boy who had earned all eight Kanto badges, but the boy who conquered Team Rocket.

It had been two years after receiving the title of champion from Green. He stood in the place where his life fell apart and wondered what he would have done if he had lost to Blaine that day.

There had actually been a chance of him losing that day. It was neck and neck between them for a while. Blaine’s arcanine was facing off against Red’s last pokémon, Pikachu. Red had complete and utter faith in his partner, unwaveringly so, but for a split second – moments after Arcanine was ordered to let out a flamethrower – he felt a jolt of fear run down his spine.

What if Pikachu couldn’t dodge? What if he lost the battle? What _would_ he do if he lost? Would he try again? Would he give up? Would his mother still be proud of him? Could he even physically stand living next to Green with the shame?

A split second occurred before Pikachu barely jumped out of the way. But it was still enough time for a thousand thoughts to run through Red’s head.

One well aimed quick attack finally had the fire pokémon down for the count. It cinched the battle for Red, but he was left shaken. Once he was outside and on his way to the pokémon center he hoped that all those doubts would be forgotten about. He was wrong.

Every single day since then he’d thought about the consequence of failure.

What if Pikachu hadn’t been quick enough or if Red hadn’t made the right call? Would he have lost and given up all together? It was certainly a possibility. Red was almost _too_ confident as a trainer before his near loss to Blaine – he was filled with bravery and adventure with no caution to speak of.

It was different now. He was older and wiser and experienced. If anyone asked how he managed to get so far he would simply shrug and say nothing, as per usual. But a little voice in the back of his head that’d been getting stronger ever since the battle on Cinnabar would be chanting away.

_It was luck – pure luck – that you’ve gotten as far as you have. You’re not a good trainer at all, you’re the champion on a fluke, you complete and utter fake._

It drove Red insane most days.

Red made his way down from the small hill of melted metal, and made his way over to the biggest mound on what was left of the island: the gym. As he walked, his subconscious reminded him of the volcano. The recently only dormant volcano on Cinnabar that laid still for years and years allowing everyone to go about their business peacefully, not showing its true nature to anyone until they were all absolutely content with their lives.

Scientists had confirmed that it was once again dormant, that the eruption was a rare event that no one could have predicted. They gave the green light to build on there again, but there had been little sign of human activity since. Even Blaine had moved his gym.

Red was beginning to think that it had been abandoned – that the people had left it behind.

Red had been content before Cinnabar – his own mind was a dormant volcano ready to leave itself alone forever. He shouldn’t have been so complacent. It had only been a matter of time before the volcano began to erupt and ooze destructive, flaming lava throughout every aspect of his life. Giovanni, Team Rocket, the fame and glory, Green, the championship, Mt. Silver, isolation – it was all the after effects of that one eruption.

Red is now the hardened exterior of that explosion. Just like the shell that once was Cinnabar Island. He was cold and desolate, everyone was afraid he would meltdown again. He was alone.

Present day, Red stood on the site the Cinnabar gym used to be and sighed.

This was where is all went wrong.


	7. However, you are not the wind in the orchard,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Formal.

The voice that boomed out of the amplifier connected to the microphone is loud, excited and animated against the eardrums of the audience. It echoed around the stadium calling everybody’s attention.

Red hated noises regardless but loud noises were the worst. The announcer was loud and cheesy, shouting nonsense as though it were a martial arts contest or a children’s card game and not a dignified pokémon battle.

The announcer led them up to Red one by one, introducing them with a flourish – only ten years old, the best in their grade, a veteran performer, fastest to complete the gym challenge amongst their peers, been training for twenty years, champion of the so-and-so region – the praise continued all day, over and over again. After the seventh challenger, he began to close his eyes as they were introduced to each other. He didn’t care.

He vaguely realised that he should pity them. But he doesn’t. They can’t win – no one had, no one will. Five years and no one had ever beaten him in a pokémon battle. Just thinking about it made him ache and wince.

He didn’t which was worse – the fact that he’d never lost a battle or the fact that at any moment he might.

Because for all he hated it – the infamy, the tabloids, the endless expectations of being the very best – the idea of being _nothing_ was just as bad.

Red feared failure above all else. He dreamed about failing the night before every formal battle event, like the one he was in today. Horrible, crippling night terrors that made him wake up in a cold sweat, a voiceless scream on his lips.

He remembered the dreams vividly. The moment that Pikachu would fall, exhausted and unable to fight any longer, the rest of his team would be inside their pokéballs, recovering from defeat. The crowd would be silent and Red would stand there, shocked and bewildered. The disappointed gaze of Green would watch him as the announcer booms the result. The nameless, faceless monster across from him would smile and jump for joy – a new champion crowned.

Red would be forgotten.

He awoke.

Red fights so that the nightmares don’t come true. He battled to keep the monsters at bay, and the self-loathing asleep. He does what is expected of him because if he doesn’t, he will disappoint everyone.

So he woke up.

He woke up and dreaded the day to follow; he entertained the idea of running away like he did when he was five to hide in the forest near his house. His mother would spend all day looking for him, calling out his name hopelessly. Green would find him in the late afternoon and offer to play hide and seek together, just so Red could stay out a little longer.

He woke up and wondered if today will be the day he finally loses his crown. The day his mother wouldn’t come looking for him. The day Green wouldn’t offer to play hide and seek.

He woke up and, pressure deep on his chest, became the champion for one more day and prayed it wouldn’t be his last.


	8. the plums on the counter,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Companion.

Green is home.

Green is the extrovert to Red’s introvert. He’s teasing rivalry, familiarity, and angst all rolled up into one arrogant package. He knows how to pry Red out of his shell, and how to make him actually enjoy life instead of moping around as if the fate of the world is his personal burden. They became best friends when they were five and have had a half friendship ever since. He’s Red’s best friend and rival through and through and he wouldn’t want to share his childhood with anyone else.

Fire is warmth.

Fire is excitement and happiness and pure friendship. He’s all smiles and joy, and adventure personified. He’s chivalrous charm without a care in the world. Fire is Red, but with a father and a sister and minus the incessant plaguing personal issues. Fire is unconditional love, a strong wall of self confidence that Red wants for himself more than anything in the world. He’s proud but not arrogant – he’s everything Green and Red are not in the best possible way. He’s a pillar of strength in Red’s crumbling life.

Leaf is comfort.

Leaf is gentle songs, consoling touches, and a smell that is one part fresh grass and one part his mother’s home cooking. She’s courage and strength where he is cowardly and weak. She’s soft smiles and soothing words, accompanying a firm hand and sharp stare. She’s the sister he never had, the friend he’s always wanted. She’s kind and loves to a fault, and in Red’s opinion, she would be a much better Champion than any of the boys put together.

While all three are friends to Red, all of them closer than anyone else in his life, they’re not companions. They aren’t there all the time and they have their own lives. They have family and friends that aren’t Red, and that sometimes that breaks his heart. But he doesn’t try to change it – he does the opposite. He holes himself up on the top of Mt. Silver away from any kind of civilisation; away from those he calls friends.

All except for one.

Amongst all the issues Red has suffered through, there’s always been one companion who has never had to leave.

Red sits in his cave atop Mt. Silver and cuddles his closest companion to his chest to protect him from the cold.

Pikachu coos softly and snuggles in closer to his entire world.


	9. or the house of cards.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Move.

A fifteen year old Green raised his eyebrow at Red, scrutinising the look he had etched on his normally stoic face. 

“You still haven’t gotten over it, have you?”

Red shook his head absentmindedly, the loudest ‘no’ Green was ever going to get.

Green sighed and rubbed the back of his neck exasperatedly, “She’s like eight years older than you, bro. Not to mention my _sister_.”

But there was little Green could say that would put Red off of Daisy Oak. A goddess in pastels with flowing chestnut hair and a smile that set Red’s ‘cold, dead heart’ – _his_ mute, over dramatic words – into overdrive. But it was true; ever since he was five years old, he’d been in love with Daisy Oak.

Ever since she cooed over his brand new hat and called him ‘ _as cute as a Caterpie_ ’.

Ever since she baked cookies for him and his mother – he ate all of them before his mother even saw the basket they came in.

Ever since she gave him a Kanto map and winked at him before saying that her brother deserved to be taken down a peg every once and a while.

Ever since she ran up to greet him when he came home after winning the Championship title and congratulated on his success with a kiss on the cheek.

He’d been the Champion for five years and his puppy love for her had only grown as the years went on.

Red was besotted and Green was petulant. “You need to move on, man. I heard Misty’s got the hots for you, y’know...”

No; Red was _in love_. He was never, ever going to forget about Daisy Oak for as long as he should live. He was going to marry her, and look after lots of little baby Pokémon with her, and even grow _old_ with her.

Now if only he could only open his mouth and actually _tell_ her.


	10. And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silver.

“So you’re the one Ethan was complaining about,” the kid mutters, looking at Red as though he scraped him off the bottom of his shoe. “You don’t look like much.”

Red stares back at the kid, not rising to the taunt. He’s never reacted before – Green was the master of taunts after all. So why should he care now when it was only one insignificant little trainer – a kid barely eleven years old and already looking as though he wears the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Red would know. He was – _is_ – the exact same.

He looks as though he expects Red to reply – apparently the kid hadn’t gotten the ‘the champion is a selective mute’ memo yet, but it didn’t seem to bother him – before launching into a monologue. The kid obviously had the same talkative tendencies as his father.

“I’ve never been able to defeat Ethan – ever. We even started at exactly the same time, but I was never good enough. I even tried to get the upper hand on him, but it still beat me.” The kid pauses and glares at Red, “...do you even know who I am?”

Red knows exactly who he is, but it’s so much easier to just call him ‘kid’ in his head. It’s a much more preferable alternative than acknowledging that this is the son of the man who ruined Red’s life.

But Red doesn’t voice this opinion out loud – not that he would or could – and nods in confirmation.

“Good,” the kid mumbles and shuffles around for a second before steeling his resolve, glaring at the Champion with thinly veiled determination. “I’ve come here to challenge you to a Pokémon battle.”

Without waiting for word from Red, the kid throws his first Pokéball out into the field. A smug Sneasel appears in the snow, its claws outstretched. Red nods and pulls out his own Pokémon, Charizard. No more pleasantries are exchanged as Silver lets out his first command.

It is all rather fitting; a battle between the two of them on the very peak of Mt. Silver.

Ten minutes later, Red watches as the kid shivers against the wind and recalls his fainted Feraligatr. Red silently calls Pikachu back to his side and waits. The kid is quiet for a moment as they stare each other down.

“I didn’t expect to defeat you – if Ethan couldn’t, then why should I?” He pauses and stares at Red, “I just wanted a reason to meet you.”

He stares at Red anxiously as if he expects him to say something – but Red doesn’t. He does, however, tip the brim of his hat forward and rub the back of his neck uncomfortably. Red has a hint of an awkward smile on his lips, but the kid can’t see.

Without a world, the kid narrows his eyes and turns around, swiftly making his way back down the mountain.

No words are spoken as the two part ways but Red feels that more was said in one battle than if they had shared a million words in one conversation.

Red watches contentedly as Silver – son of Giovanni – leaves the mountain, and Red, behind. The Champion can’t help but feel like the weight on his shoulders has lightened for the first time in three years.


	11. There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prepared.

There was nothing he could have possibly done that would have helped in preparation for this moment.

This thought sends a rush of complete and utter terror through his body, which is accompanies the suffocating pressure descending on his chest. As the choking feeling creeps upon him, he attempts to take deep breaths of air into his lungs, but finds that he can’t seem to manage the simple task. Panic sets in as Red scrambles to think of something – _anything_ – to get out of the situation.

Memories begin to fly through his mind as breathing becomes harder. He sees clear as day the moment he defeated Green in his first Pokémon battle, followed quickly by the very first Pokémon he ever caught, and the feeling of utter triumph when the Boulder badge was placed in his hand.

But the bad memories get in too. He relives vivid apprehension as he wandered around Mt. Moon wondering who all the shady trainers were, feeling the dread as he saw the ransacked house of a man in Cerulean, and the deserted streets of Saffron seized by Team Rocket, the battle he took with Giovanni at the pinnacle of Silph Co.

He sees the moment he became the Champion of the Kanto League.

He tells himself that this situation need not be a _bad_ memory, per se. It certainly has the potential to be a good memory if he weren’t so anxious and nervous.

Red takes in a breath of air as a heavy hand settles on his shoulder. He looks back and is acutely surprised to see Green there grinning.

“I’m not over here talking to you ‘cause I’m cheering for you, just so you know. But you look like you could use a bit of reassurance.”

Red shakes his head quickly, attempting to convey something that even he is unsure of. But Green thankfully seems to understand, and rolls his eyes in response.

“Fine, fine. Whatever you _say_ , dude,” Green pulls away from his friend and wanders into the middle of the field. “The battle between Kanto Champion Red and Pokémon Professor Samuel Oak is about to begin. This will be a three on three Pokémon Battle, wherein the person who has no Pokémon left at the end of the battle is the loser,” he pauses and smirks, knowing him – for a dramatic flair. “Begin!”

Red remembers back onto everything he has ever accomplished and makes up his mind. He is very much so prepared for this moment.

Red steels himself and reaches for a Pokéball. Across the field Professor Oak does the same.


	12. It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Knowledge.

Red rarely ventured to Sinnoh, even after he started up correspondence with Dawn.

The year round cold and extravagance didn’t suit Red’s tastes, even for a vacation. He wasn’t a person of leisure, after all.

Whenever he had to go to Sinnoh, it was to meet someone or find something.

When there, he avoided Hearthome like the plague and spent the majority of his time in the Survival Area anyway, so much of the region went unappreciated.

Red was a creature of habit. Regardless of where he went he avoided the crowds and stayed close to the rural training areas. It was just his luck, however, that he had been gifted with a friend like Leaf who thrived on travelling to meet new people and find the finer side of life.

It’s the presence of Leaf in Red’s life that leads him to his current predicament.

“Stop pouting Red, I can sense it from here,” her voice cut through the silent library. Red startled from his – admitted, constant internal monologue – and raised a curious eyebrow at her tone. “Uh huh, I know you didn’t wanna come with me to help Professor Oak but we’re here now, so stop moping.”

Red rolled his eyes before wandering over to a bookcase. He wasn’t much of a reader, but there wasn’t much else to do in a library – it would be his makeshift prison until Officer Leaf deemed him free to go.

He started skimming over the titles, barely paying attention to the titles on the spines, when Leaf started musing aloud.

“You’d think that there would be more librarians in the biggest library in Sinnoh,” she muttered to herself as she sifted through the thick, heavy books.

Red, on the other hand, was more than pleased with the lack of snooty old ladies telling him to be quiet – he had quite enough of that during his childhood.

He wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that librarians were the reason he became a mute. Red let out a quiet snicker and pulled out a colourful novel to inspect.

Leaf stood up from her pile of books and spun around to look at him, “Oh so now you’re gonna help? Good, you can help me find that book Professor Oak wanted,” she ordered and she moved over to the next pile. “It’s a book called The Myth of Evolution, or something like that. It’s really old looking, no author. Think you can handle that, champ?”

She didn’t wait for his reply before going back to her job.

Red gazed over at the television in the corner of the room wistfully before starting on his first stack of books. It looked broken anyway.

He wasn’t pleased to be there.

In his mind, there were a million more exciting places to be other than Canalave Library on a sunny Saturday morning.

The library was completely empty regardless, with only the Kanto duo taking up residence on the top floor.

A sympathetic librarian had told them that the library was usually frequented by a very friendly and helpful hiker who was currently mysteriously absent.

It was no skin off Red’s nose, but Leaf managed to conjure up her most disapproving expression to date.

After two hours of searching, Red was done. He hadn’t found the book yet, but he was done. There was nothing left Leaf could do to keep him there. He had been done even before they began looking but he was especially done now.

It was nearly noon, and more than anything he was hungry. He’d seen a little inn that served lunch when he arrived, and absentmindedly wondered if they were still open.

Red stopped the sorting for a moment and wandered over to the window. It was sunny and bright, and he could hear the wingull squawk in the distance over the ocean. He rested his head against the glass forlornly and sighed.

It was only when he lifted his hand to rub his eyes did he notice he was still holding onto a book.

It was big and heavy in his hands, with a worn plain brown cover. The spine was broken and cracked from repeated use and the pages smelt like sunshine and dust.

Red wasn’t a book person. He read when he had to, but most of the time he preferred action and adventure to a book. He wanted to live the adventure, not read about it. But there was something about this particular book that called out to him. He thumbed the spine briefly, reading it to himself. _The Original Story_ was painted in gold on the spine, worn but still legible.

Leaf peered over his shoulder and looked at the book in his hand. “Original Story, huh?” She mumbled before plucking it out of his hands.

Red waved his hands at her irritably, but she turned her back and began to flip through the pages.

“It’s about the origin story of Sinnoh,” she told him. “It talks about Arceus as the Original One.”

Red rolled his eyes and huffed as she sat down at a table and looked up at him.

“Oh don’t be like that, Red. Let’s not kid ourselves – we know that if you have the book, I’ll never hear it,” Leaf teased lightly. “Now come here, you dork,” she laughed, waving him over. Once he was seated across from her at the table she began.

“It looks like the actual origin myth is only a few paragraphs long, all the rest of it is notes and theories and stuff from professors over time. Plus, there’s no original author or anything. I’ve studied with Cynthia a little, and she said that most of these myths were originally spoken out loud, and were passed through generations. They also made cave paintings and stuff like that, but most of them have disappeared,” Leaf paused and looked up at Red, making sure she kept his attention.

He waved his hand, leaving Leaf satisfied.

“As I said, it’s not very long. There are eighteen lines and it’s pretty vague. I’m surprised that we now know who it’s even about,” she looked up at Red’s impatient face and laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll start now.”

She flicked to a section of the book near the beginning and took a breath in,

“In the beginning, there was only a churning turmoil of chaos. At the heart of chaos, where all things became one, appeared an Egg. Having tumbled from the vortex, the Egg gave rise to the Original One. From itself, two beings the Original One did make.”

Red hummed as she spoke, spurring her on.

“Time started to spin. Space began to expand. From itself again, three living things the Original One did make. The two beings wished, and from them, matter came to be. The three living things wished, and from them, spirit came to be. The world created, the Original One took to unyielding sleep...”

Leaf put the book down and sighed, “I love how all the old myths sound more like poetry than facts.” Red nodded in what Leaf took as an agreement. There were a few more moments of silence before Leaf stood up, “Okay, let’s get back to work. We only have three more hours of daylight left!”

Red groaned silently and got back to work, the entire time refusing to let the Original Story out of his sight.

It was two hours later when the librarian sheepishly walked up the stairs and confessed that the book they’d been tirelessly searching for was on temporary loan at the Nacrene Library in Unova.

If Red spoke regularly, he would have warned her about a wind change when he saw Leaf’s face contort into an angry grimace. He managed to steer her out of the library before she started an argument with the librarian, while completely forgetting about the brown leather covered book.

It wasn’t until he was home in Pallet did he remember it, and sorely considered breaking his selective mutism just to groan angrily.

He resisted the urge, and swore he’d go back to the library the next time he was in Sinnoh.


	13. maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Denial.

The movement of his hands felt awkward and stunted in a way he had never felt before. The twists and turns made his head spin, and he when he attempted to say one thing, it would come out as something entirely different and wrong.

Considering the idea of speaking to anyone in any capacity sent shivers of anxiety down his spine, he thought he’d have gotten around to learning how to speak sign language years ago. Red was sixteen that year, and only after one too many stunted conversations with Green did the other boy decide to do something about it.

“Like this,” Green murmured and contorted Red’s hands into the correct position, “it means _family_.”

Red went to nod, but paused instead. He raised a hand in an upright fist and rocked it back and forth. Green grinned encouragingly.

It wasn’t as though many of the actions were hard to do. The basics were easy to copy, and certainly didn’t require particularly dextrous fingers. But Red had never been very good at school and while he had mastered communication via quick yet barely legible writing early on, things like studying and exams had continued to evade him even now.

It was truthfully the reason why he had ignored the problem for so long – he just couldn’t remember all of the signs. He could barely remember ten of them.

“Now this is how you say _hello, my name is Red_ ,” Green told him patiently, but raised an eyebrow as Red adopted a look of panic. “Don’t worry so much – I don’t expect you to learn it all in a day, I’m not a monster.”

Red thought for a moment before joining all his fingers with his thumb in an attempt to communicate.

Green looked confused. “Huh? What do you—oh!” he exclaimed as Red shook his head back and forth to clarify further, looking more and more dejected as he realised he had gotten the sign wrong. “You mean _no_ – it goes like this,” Green said and fixed Red’s fingers, “close, though. You’ll get there.”

Red fought down the urge to remind Green that he had learned it in a week after making the executive decision to teach Red sign language, then realised that he had yet to learn sign language himself – and there was no pen and paper in sight.

(Green had removed all writing utensils when they started an hour ago in an attempt to force Red to use his newfound knowledge. Not that he was actually retaining any new information, but had reaffirmed that he still hates Green although they’ve managed to patch things up over the past few years.)

Viridian’s gym was quiet and eerie for once, and it unsettled Red more than Mt. Silver did during a snowstorm. The lack of trainers and challengers, the sound of battling pokémon and yelled commands made the space seem empty and cavernous. The room – and Green’s expectant expression – made him anxious.

Red frowned and went to stand up, only to have Green grab his arm and pull him back down.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked indignantly. “We have thirty more signs to get through tonight, and then we’ll revise what you’ve learnt.”

Red recalled that Green never had a problem in school. He aced every exam and didn’t even need to suck up to the teacher for better grades. He had always known what to say to their classmates which quickly made him the most popular person in the class. Being the grandson of the local professor certainly helped, as did inviting everyone around to the laboratory to see the pokémon, which eventually made him the most popular person in the entire school.

Red had just been happy to ignore everyone else in class and stare out the window.

Needless to say, Green had never had difficulties in anything – that is, until Red faced him five minutes after his own ascension to champion – and that had clearly gone to his head.

Red simply wasn’t made to retain information that wasn’t about pokémon.

He looked at Green and was surprised at the look on the other boy’s face.

“Don’t you want to have a real conversation with me?”

Red paused for a moment before slowly signing _yes_ – he was getting that one down, at least.

“I’ve known you since we were kids,” Green said slowly, “but we’ve never talked, ever. It doesn’t matter to me, because I know that’s not who you are but—” he struggled with the next few words. Red couldn’t remember the last time Green didn’t just blurt out whatever he was thinking at the time. “I’m just saying – I get that you don’t wanna speak and all, but it would be nice to _talk_ for once.”

Red paused a moment to take all of it in.

Green had never been the most open of people, even when they had returned to being friends after their disastrous stint at rivalry. He was a boisterous person who cared little about what people thought about him, but even the most confident of people had trouble expressing themselves.

Red knew that he himself appeared to be collected on the field during battle – which was true, admittedly, though the calm he felt while battling was the exception rather than the rule – but the second he finished, he returned to the boy who was consistently apathetic about his surroundings in the way only the truly disillusioned can be.

Intrinsic apathy and confidence did not inherently equal being good at telling friends you care about them.

Green looked as though he was going to continue to talk, most likely to repeat the same sentiment in different variations until Red put him out of his misery.

Red put a hand on Green’s arm, and signed _family_. Clumsily, shown when Green corrected the placement of his fingers again, but the sentiment was still the same.

Green smiled at him, and Red resolved, by the end of the week, to know _I love you_ by heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this is so gay. There's this issue where I watch anime that features boys who look a lot like Red and Green and then get bad ideas like this little homosexual number.

**Author's Note:**

> chapter titles come from litany by billy collins.


End file.
